???? ? According to information received from Washington County Sheriff Claude Combs a call was placed to a suicide hotline. The call was taken by Officer Eric Mills around 4:43 p.m. on Friday, December 12, from a distraught subject.
The subject, Robert Brewer stated he was on Colony Drive. Officer Mills with the Salem Police Department then went to the residence to find the subject not there. He then asked the Washington County Sheriff’s Department to provide a welfare check to Brewer’s home address on Christmas Tree Road in the Northern part of the county.
According to Combs, Deputy Jimmy Strange and Reserve Deputy Steve Payne went to the residence at approximately 6:12 p.m. and communicated with Brewer.
Communication ceased and the lights in the home went dark. Strange then went around to the back of the house and according to Combs one shot was fired towards Deputy Strange from a shotgun.
Strange and Payne left the residence, contacted Sheriff Combs and then contacted the Indiana State Police (ISP)..
The ISP sent a negotiator who made contact with Brewer asking what Brewer’s needs were.
According to Sheriff Combs Brewer stated he needed to go to Veteran’s Affairs (VA) Hospital. A three way call was placed between Brewer’s doctor at VA, Brewer and the ISP negotiator to assure Brewer’s needs were going to be met.
According to Combs, at approximately 10:15 p.m. negotiations were broken off by Brewer and after many attempts to reconnect communication failed.
The ISP made entry into the home around midnight to find Brewer deceased.
Indiana State Police and Washington County Sheriffs Department are continuing to investigate this case.